necessity

noun

Etymology: From Middle English necessite, from Old French necessite, from Latin necessitās (“unavoidableness, compulsion, exigency, necessity”), from necesse (“unavoidable, inevitable”); see necessary. Doublet of Necessitas.

1. The quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite.

   “I bought a new table out of necessity. My old one was ruined.”

   “Educating the public about some of the myths that underlie their fears that non-traditional families will of necessity be detrimental to the well-being of foster children.”

2. The condition of being needy; desperate need; lack.

   “For it is in vain for a man to think to seek God in his necessity and exigence, if he seek not God in his ordinances, and do not joy in them.”

3. Something necessary; a requisite; something indispensable.

   “A tent is a necessity if you plan on camping.”

   “Look for the bare necessities / The simple bare necessities / Forget about your worries and your strife”

4. Something which makes an act or an event unavoidable; an irresistible force; overruling power.

   “After eating a full meal, the human body's necessity for food will compel the person to eat again in the future.”

   “I stopped, and said with inly muttered voice, 'It doth not love the shower, nor seek the cold: This neither is its courage nor its choice, But its necessity in being old.”

5. The negation of freedom in voluntary action; the subjection of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism.
6. Greater utilitarian good; used in justification of a criminal act.

   “doctrine of necessity”

7. Indispensable requirements (of life).